Brick-cutter-synchronizing control



'. Oct. 22, 1929. s. E. LUCE 1,732,233

BRICK CUTTER SYNCHRONIZING CONTROL Filed April 22, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I I Ian 1 Z5 Z3 I I? i t INVENTOR.

(7, W 40 I AT NEYS.

Oct. 22, 1929. a. E. LUCE 1,732,238

BRICK CUTTER SYNCHRONIZING CONTROL Filed April 22, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 1N VEN TOR. GAHFTO/V E. LucE.

MT NEY5.

Patented Dct. 22, 1929 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GRAFTON E. LUCE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR T0 LANCASTER IRON WORKS, INC., OF LANCASTER, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA BRICK-CUTTER-SYNCI'IRONIZING CONTROL Application filed April 22,

This invention relates to a synchronizing control for cutting tables.

The chief object of this invention is to produce a device for securing synchronous control between two parts that successively operate upon the same material such that the operation will always be uniform.

One application of the aforesaid consists in the synchronized control arrangement between a supply belt and the cutting mechanism positioned adjacent thereto, said supply belt presenting one or more columns of clay to the cutting mechanism for cutting the same into bricks of predetermined length, but the invention is not specifically limited to this application.

The chief feature of the invention consists in the arrangement of a source of power for an operating mechanism, an endless conveyor movable through frictional contact with a load to be operated upon by said mechanism and a control responsive to the variation from a predetermined ratio between said endless conveyor and the mechanism for graduating the power applied to the mechanism to conform to the belt speed.

The full nature of the invention will be understood from the accompanying drawings and the following description and claims:

Fig. 1 is a top plan View of the invention applied to a brick cutting machine with parts associated therewith. Fig. 2 is a side elevational view. Fig. 3 is a similar view taken from the opposite side of Fig. 2 and along the line 3-3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 1 is a wiring diagram of the slip actuated automatic control. Fig. 5 is a sectional view of the combination reversing switch and circuit breaker taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 4 and in the direction of the arrows. Fig. 6 is a plan view of the ratio measuring mechanism. Figs. 7 and 8 are longitudinal sectional views of modified forms of clay column supports.

In the operation of making brick by whatis known as the stiff mud process, a column of clay is formed by an auger machine and transported on an endless conveyor to a cutter and cut. into the proper brick sizes. In one type of operation a continuous reel cut- 192'7. Serial No. 185,868.

ter is used consisting of a reel carrying a multiple of cutting wires placed transverse to the column of clay and rotating at a speed determined by the speed of the conveyor belt carrying the clay. The conveyor belt carrying the clay is driven by the friction of the clay on the belt and in turn drives the cutter, thus maintaining approximately the proper speed ratio between the cutter and the clay column.

The power which can be taken from the clay column is limited by the stifiness of the clay and is never suflicient to drive the cutter. The deficiency of power is made up by a friction drive from an individual power source. A change of speed of the clay column, therefore, causes a change in the slippage of the friction drive before a corresponding change in the speed of the cutter is obtained. The friction drive requires a delicate adjustment for a given speed of the cutter and with one adjustment will not operate satisfactorily over any great range of clay column speeds. The result of this unsatisfactory operation is damaged brick due to crooked cuts and due to the hestitation of the wire in the clay column when insufficient power is received from the friction drive.

The present invention is for the purpose of applying to the cutter a positive power drive which can be automatically regulated from the speed of the claycolumn without regard to the stiffness of the clay column and without damage to the brick due to sudden changes in speed.

In the drawings 10 indicates a multiple column of clay supported by an endless conveyor belt 11, which in turn is supported by rollers 12 and pulley 12 on a framework 13. The clay columns are supplied to the belt 11 from a brick augermachine. The roller 14 at the discharge end of the conveyor belt is supported on shaft 15 by an antifriction hearing. A second endless conveyor (off-bearing) belt 16 driven by an independent power means, not shown, and at a higher speed than the conveyor belt 11 carries the cut brick 17 from the cutter The cutter mounted above the roller 14 consists of a multiple of cutter bows 18, each carrying a cutter wire 19 transverse to the travel of the clay column. The bows are fixedly supported on a revolving shaft 20. The shaft 20 is in turn carried on the frame work 1.3 by two bearings 21. Fixedly mounted on one end of the shaft 20 is a wheel 22 carrying on one side rollers 23 and on the opposite side rollers 24. Fixedly mounted on the shaft 15 are two cardiac cams 25 and 26 so placed that cam 25 acts on rollers 23 and cam 26 acts on rollers 24. The shaft 15 is driven through a set of worm gears 27 by a variable speed motor 28.

Between the roller 14 and the roller 29 supporting the receiving end of the conveyor belt 16 is a rocker plate 30 carried by a pair of lever arms 31 fixedly connected to shaft 32. Fixedly connected to shaft 32 is another lever arm 33, the outer end of which is acted upon by a cam 34 fixedly mounted on the shaft 15 for the purpose of raising the rocker plate 30 to support the cut brick as it passes from belt 11 to belt 16 and for lowering the rocker plate to permit the passage of the cutting wires 19 following the cutting of the brick.

In the operation of the cutter the cams 25 and 26 drive the cutter bows by means of the cam rollers and the wheel 22 at the proper speed to make a. vertical cut through the clay column, provided that the ratio of speed of rotation of the shaft 15 and the pulley 12 is maintained at a proper fixed value.

The speed of shaft 15 is proportional to the speed of the cutter since it drives the same through the motor 28. A gear reduction 41 constitutes a power take-off and drives shaft 42 at a speed proportional to shaft 15. A comparator device is connected to the shafts and 42. Shafts 40 and 42 terminate adjacent each other, the former in a bevel gear 43 and the latter in a bevel pinion 44. Pinion 44 meshes with the bevel ring gear 45 which pivotally supports bevel pinions 46, the same meshing with the bevel gear 43. Said pinions also mesh with another bevel gear 47 carried by one end of shaft 48. The arrangement is such that power is supplied to the comparator by shafts 40 and 42, and if the rates of rotation of the shafts are in a predetermined ratio depending on the number of teeth in the respective bevel gears, the bevel gear 47 is not rotated. If there is any difference bevel gear 47 is rotated either to the right or to the left depending upon which of the shafts 40 or 42 is rotating the fastest and the degree of rotation of shaft 48 is proportional to the difference in the rates of rotation of shafts 40 and 42.

The opposite end of shaft 48 terminates in a circuit breaker. Herein the circuit breaker is multiple in character and is arranged for reverse operation. The same consists of two pairs of oppositely positioned contacts, the same being indicated by the numerals 49, 50, 51 and 52, insulated from each other and carried by the circuit breaker housing 53. A pair of collars 54 are carried by shaft 48 and have a friction slip connection therebetween. Each collar supports an insulation member 55 that supports a contactor 56 or 57 as indicated. lVhen shaft 48 is rotated clockwise contacts 56 and 57 engage contacts 50 and 51 and as long as shaft 48 continues to rotate in that direction contacts 56 and 57 will remain in contacting engagement, the same being permitted by the friction slip connection previously described. As the two speeds of the shafts 40 and 42 gradually approach each other the same being caused either by a slowing down of the one or a speeding up of the other or both, such equalization of difference in speeds causes shaft 48 to stop rotating which permits the contacts to return to neutral position since they have a slip friction mounting thereon. 1f the reverse initial condition obtained, shaft 48 is caused to rotate counter-clockwise and then the contacts 56 and 57 engage the contacts 49 and 52, respectively, and will remain in engagement therewith as long as there is any difference in speeds between the shafts and will return to neutral position only when shaft 48 remains stationary. The aforesaid mechanism constitutes a reversingswitch for motor 58, the shaft of which drives a worm 59 meshing with a worm wheel 60 for oscillating arm 61 of an adjustable resistance constituting a control for the power motor 28.

The power lines are indicated by numerals L and L and a master switch 62 is adapted to connect lines 63 and 64 to the main. motor armature, see Fig. 4, such connection including the starting resistances 65 and the throwover switch 66 which will short circuit'said resistance or will stop the motor by being positioned in open circuit position. The held 67 of the motor is connected by line 70 to the arm 61 on the current conducting member carried thereby. The several resistances 71 arranged arcuately and in step by step relation are connected in series and by line 7 2 to the return line 73. It will be'apparent, therefore, as the arm 61 is oscillated to and fro the several resistance steps indicated at 71 are short-circuited or cut in to vary the field strength of the motor 28 and, therefore, the motor speed. The speed of motor'28, therefore, will be increased or decreased but the motor rotation will not be reversed.

The control mechanism for the aforesaid includes the motor 58 and the reversing switch previously described, the same being connected together and to the line wires L and L as follows: Line 73 constitutes a common line to L A travel limit switch in dicated generally by the numeral 74, has an actuating portion 75 engageable by a projecting portion 76 carried by arm 61 for opening a circuit through the said switch when the arm 61 reaches the end of travel. The

switch 74 is connected by line 77 to contact 51 of the reverse switch. A similar switch 78 is connected by line 7 9 to line 73 and by line 80 to contact 49. It has a similar actuating portion 7 5 engageable by another proj ection 7 6 on arm 61 and constitutes the travel limit switch for preventing further travel in the opposite direction of said arm. Contact 50 is connected byline 81 to switch 62 and thus L and contact 52 is connected by line 82 to the same. Movable contact 56 is connected by line 83 to terminal 84 of the motor and movable contact 57 is connected by line 85 to terminal 86 of the motor. The line 87 connects terminal 88 of the motor to the common line 73 and line 89 connects terminal 90 of the motor to line L Thus, the terminals 90 and 88 for all intentional purposes may be said to be connected across the line and are connected to the shunt field winding of the motor 58. The armature winding thereof connected to terminals 84 and 86 and through the reversing switch construction are connected to lines L and L except that the travel limit switches 78 and. 74 are interposed in the reversing circuits to prevent over-travel of arm 61 of the motor control device for motor 28.

From the foregoing, therefore, it will be apparent that the shafts 40 and 42 each are under their own power and that if the predetermined speed ratio varies between the clay column and the cutter, such tendency to vary said ratio will be immediately indicated. as a tendency to vary the relationship of the comparator or differential mechanism and such variation will cause rotation of shaft 48 in the direction corresponding to which of the two driving shafts is being driven fastest. This will cause the circuit to be closed through one of the reversing circuits in the reversing switch and thus the motor 58 will be energized in the proper direction to rotate the arm 61 intoa position corresponding to that wherein the speed of motor 28 will just provide suiiicient power that the cutting mechanism will have the same speed rate, figuratively speaking, as the speed of the clay column thereby insuring the formation of perfect brick. The device illustrated and described is so sensitive that during the cutting operation for any part while passing through the clay column or columns, the power supplied by motor 28 will be varied in accordance with the demand made thereon. As initially explained, heretofore irregular cuts have occurred, this being due to the relatively quick entrance of the wire into the column, its subsequent slowing up after it imbeds itself deeper into the column and its final quick severance as it leaves the column upon the cutting of the brick. The aforesaid is now prevented by the comparator control.

While the above is a preferred embodiment of the invention, it is to be understood that several important variations are possible without departing from the broad aspect of the invention. For example, see Fig. 7, the conveyor 11 is dispensed with and a stationary lubricated plate 111 substituted therefor. The roll 12 then comes in direct contact with the clay column 10 through an opening 100 in the said plate and rotates shaft 40 with exactly the results heretofore described. A. second roller 112 rolling on the upper surface of the clay immediately above roller 12 is then used to maintain contact between the clay 10 and roller 12.

In Fig. 8 an intermediate form is illustrated with roll 12 driving shaft 40 being directly engaged bythe clay column 10 assisted by roll 212. The endless belt is replaced by a plurality of rolls 211 mounted a in frame 213 which support the clay column and permit its travel. The operation of the comparator device connected to shaft 40 is in no way changed by either of the aforesaid substitutions.

The invention claimed is:

1. In combination a shaft rotatable in timed relation with and by a moving column of plastic material, a cutter for the column, power means for driving said cutter, a differential comparator driven in timed relation with said shaft and said cutter, and control means for synchronizing the column and cutter movements operable by said comparator controlling the speed of the power means to maintain a predetermined ratio of speed between said cutter and said column.

2. The combination of a device movable in timed relation with and by a moving column of plastic material, a second device for operating thereon, power means for operating said second device, and mechanism controlling said power means for synchronizing the device operation and column movement responsive to the speed of the column and to the speed of the second device to maintain a predetermined ratio of speed therebetween.

8. In combination a shaft rotatable in timed relation with and by a moving column of plastic material, a cutter for the column, an electric motor driving said cutter, a differential comparator driven by said shaft and said cutter for synchronizing motor and column movements, a control switch controlled by said comparator, and a motor driven rheostat controlled by said control switch and controlling the speed of said cutter driving motor and maintaining said motor speed at a predetermined ratio with the speed of the column.

4; In combination a shaft rotatable in timed relation with and by a moving column of plastic material, a mechanism for operating on said plastic material to form the same in predetermined lengths, another shaft responsive to the speed of said mechanism, a source of power for said mechanism, a control for said source of power for synchronizing the column movement and mechanism operation, a third shaft, and a device interposed between said three shafts for operating the last mentioned shaft responsive to the difference between the rates of speed of the column and the operating mechanism for varying the power application to the operating mechanism to vary the speed thereof responsive to variations of speed of the column.

5. In combination a load supporting and load driven endless conveyor, an idler pulley frictionally driven by said conveyor and substantially at the conveyor speed, a power operable device for operating on the load supported by said conveyor, said device and said conveyor being operable in timed relation for synchronous movement and having a predetermined ratio of speeds therebetween, a shaft rotative at a rate responsive to the endless conveyor rate of movement, a second shaft rotative at a rate responsive to the power pulley, a third shaft mechanism associated with said three shafts for causing move ment of said third shaft proportional to the differences between said rates to indicate the variation therebetween, and means operable by the third shaft for varying the application of power for maintaining the predetermined ratio therebetween.

In Witness whereof, I have hereunto affixed my signature.

GRAFTON E. LUCE. 

